Media content selected from listening history of social connections

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and computer programs for generating a playlist of media content items that are popular with the friends of the first user. A first user taste profile is determined and a user taste profile is determined for each of a plurality of social connections. A similarity score is calculated between the first user taste profile and the user taste profile of each social connection. Media content items consumed by social connections with the highest similarity score are selected and placed in a playlist for the first user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/206,282, filed Mar. 19, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/259,860, filed Jan. 28, 2019, now U.S. Pat. No.10,977,296, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/780,061, filed Dec. 14, 2018, which applications are herebyincorporated by reference in their entireties. To the extentappropriate, a claim of priority is made to each of the above-disclosedapplications.

BACKGROUND

Media distribution platforms, such as those that stream content acrossthe Internet, have allowed consumers unprecedented access to largecatalogs of media content including music and videos. Because there isnow so much media content available to consumers, it can be difficultfor consumers to determine what media content to listen to or watch.

As a result, such media distribution platforms have developed variousfeatures to assist users in identifying suitable content. Such featuresmight recommend content that is of a particular style or genre, forexample. More advanced features can analyze the user's past usage andmake recommendations of other media content that is similar to ormatches certain characteristics of media content previously consumed bythat user. Even so, additional features are desired to assist users inidentifying media content of interest to allow them to make even betteruse of the large catalogs available to them.

SUMMARY

In general terms, the present disclosure is directed to a media system.In some embodiments, the media system generates a queue of media contentitems based on the media consumption history of other users of the mediadelivery system, such as to allow the user to explore media content thatis enjoyed by his or her friends or other social connections. In anexample embodiment, and by non-limiting example, a playlist is generatedthat is composed of media content items selected from the listeninghistory of the user's social connections.

One aspect is a method of generating a queue of media content items fromsocial connections for playback to a first user using a media system,the media system including at least one computing device, the methodcomprising: determining a first user taste profile; identifying socialconnections of the first user; determine a user taste profile for eachof the social connections, each of the user taste profiles beinggenerated based at least in part on listening history of the respectivesocial connection; comparing the first user taste profile with the usertaste profiles of the social connections to generate a similarity scorefor each of the social connections, the similarity score representinghow similar the first user taste profile is to the user taste profile ofthe social connection; selecting a subset of the social connections fromthe social connections based on the similarity scores; identifying aplurality of media content items previously consumed by the subset ofthe social connections; and generating the queue of media content itemsselected from the plurality of media content items.

Another aspect is a media system comprising at least one processingsystem and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium storingdata instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause theprocessor to: receive a request from a first user to generate a queue ofmedia content items based on the first user's social connections;determine a first user taste profile; identify the social connections ofthe first user determine a user taste profile for each of the socialconnections, each of the user taste profiles being generated based atleast in part on listening history of the respective social connection;compare the first user taste profile with the user taste profiles of thesocial connections to generate a similarity score for each of the socialconnections, the similarity score representing how similar the firstuser taste profile is to the user taste profile of the socialconnection; select a subset of the social connections from the socialconnections based on the similarity scores; identify a plurality ofmedia content items previously consumed by the subset of the socialconnections; and generate the queue of media content items selected fromthe plurality of media content items.

A further aspect is a method of generating a queue of media contentitems from social connections of a first user for playback to a firstuser using a media system including at least one computing device, themethod comprising: determining a first user taste profile; identifying aplurality of social connections of the first user; determining a usertaste profile for each of the social connections, the user tasteprofiles being generated based at least in part on listening historiesof the social connections; comparing the first user taste profile withthe user taste profiles of the social connections to generate similarityscores for the social connections, the similarity scores representinghow similar the first user taste profile is to the user taste profilesof the social connections; selecting a subset of social connections fromthe plurality of social connections based on the similarity scores;checking privacy settings associated with the social connections todetermine whether the privacy settings indicate that any of the socialconnections of the subset of social connections have elected not toshare their listening histories; identifying a plurality of mediacontent items consumed by the subset of the social connections; andgenerating the queue of media content items selected from the pluralityof media content items, wherein the queue of media content items doesnot include media content items identified from social connections thathave elected not to share their listening histories.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an example mediasystem, such as for generating and playing to a first user a queue ofmedia content items, such as a friends playlist.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of another example of the mediasystem 100 used to generate and play the friends playlist shown in FIG.1.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method of generating a friends playlist.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example method of identifyingsocial connections to be used in generating a friends playlist.

FIG. 5 shows an example user interface for requesting a periodicplaylist.

FIG. 6 shows an example user interface for selecting followers to createa friends playlist.

FIG. 7 shows an example user interface for an example friends playlist.

FIG. 8 shows an example user interface of a privacy settings display.

FIG. 9 shows an example list of tracks to calculate an activity score.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example embodiment of tracks arranged by cosinedistance and an indication of a familiarity status.

FIG. 11 shows an example list of tracks sorted by familiarity score.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments are described in detail with reference to thedrawings, wherein like reference numerals represent like parts andassemblies throughout the several views. Reference to variousembodiments does not limit the scope of the claims attached hereto.Additionally, any examples set forth in this specification are notintended to be limiting and merely set forth some of the many possibleembodiments for the appended claims.

The system and method are generally directed towards procuring andgenerating a queue of media content items that are derived from thelistening history of other users that the first user follows on a mediadelivery service. As used herein, the term “user” denotes other users onthe same media system that the first user is connected to, the term“friend” refers to users on a social media system that the first user isconnected to on the associated social media system, generally, a userand/or a friend may be referred to as a “social connection,” and theterm “followed user” refers to users on the media streaming service thatthe first user follows.

As described herein, consuming media content items may include one ormore of listening to audio content, watching video content, or consumingother types of media content. For ease of explanation, the embodimentsdescribed in this application are presented using specific examples. Forexample, audio content (and in particular music) is described as anexample of one form of media consumption, and examples commonly refer to“songs” or “tracks” that are representative of media content items.

Media content items can include audio and video content. Examples ofaudio content include songs, albums, playlists, radio stations,podcasts, audiobooks, and other audible media content items. Examples ofvideo content include movies, music videos, television programs, andother visible media content items. In many cases, video content alsoincludes audio content.

Many users desire a personalized media consuming experience. Forexample, a user can access almost limitless catalogs of media contentitems through various free or fee-based media delivery services, such asmedia streaming services. Users can use mobile devices or other mediaplayback devices to access large catalogs of media content items. Due tosuch large collections of media content items, it is desired tointroduce users to new media content items that the user will mostlikely enjoy. Without providing recommendations to the user, it isunlikely that the user will find such media content items on their own.Further, users are aware of what their friends are listening to, whichmay create other opportunities to go to concerts or listen to musictogether, and to build stronger connections with social connections andwith the media system.

FIG. 1 is schematic block diagram illustrating an example media system100, such as for generating and playing to a first user U a queue ofmedia content items, such as a friends playlist 120. In this example,the media system 100 includes a user device 102 and a media deliverysystem 150. The media system 100 can communicate over a network 110.

The friends playlist 120 is one example of a queue of media contentitems, which is generated by the media system from the first user'ssocial connections, or from another set of users having an identifiedrelationship to (such as a personal relationship with) the first user U.Although the present disclosure utilizes the example of the friendsplaylist 120, it should be recognized that this is just one example of aqueue of media content items. Other queues of media content items canalso be generated for and/or played to the first user according to theprinciples described herein. For example, the queue can be generatedbased on other known relationships, such as colleagues, family members,club or group members, users that the first user follows, users whofollow the first user, and other relationships. As another example, thequeue of media content items can be another collection of media contentitems other than a playlist, such as a set of search results, a mediastream, etc.

In some embodiments the friends playlist 120 is generated based on thefirst user's social connections. The social connections can be definedwithin the media system 100, or can be provided by and imported fromanother social media system or other database identifying relationshipbetween users. Further examples are described herein, such as utilizinga social media system 160 described with reference to FIG. 2.

In all cases, the privacy of users is carefully protected by the mediasystem 100. For example, obtaining a list of social connections from asocial media system is completed only after the first user has expresslyrequested and authorized the media system 100 to obtain thatinformation, which is confirmed by both the social media system and themedia system 100. Additionally, even after a list of social connectionshas been obtained, the media system 100 does not use that information togenerate the friends playlist 120 without the authorization of eachuser. For example, privacy controls, such as described in further detailwith reference to FIG. 8 are provided that allow a user to maintaincontrol over whether or not the media system 100 can use his or herlistening history data to generate the friends playlist 120, and suchcontrols can be adjusted by the users at any time.

The schematic display shown in FIG. 1 includes an example announcementwindow that can be generated on the user device 102, such as within auser interface of a media playback engine (e.g., 210, FIG. 2). Theannouncement window can be used to announce the availability of thefriends playlist feature to the first user, and to prompt the user as towhether the user would like the media system 100 generate the friendsplaylist 120. In another possible embodiment the friends playlist 120can be previously generated and the announcement window prompts the userto indicate whether he or she would like to listen to it. If so, aselectable control receives an input from the first user to initiategeneration and/or playing of the friends playlist 120.

The media system 100 then provides the friends playlist 120 to the userdevice 102 where it is played 122 to the first user.

The user device 102 receives input from a user U and provides output,such as playing media content items 122 to the user U. The user device102 can include visual components (e.g., displays for output and camerasfor input), audio components (e.g., speakers for output and microphonesfor input), tactile components (e.g., haptic feedback actuators foroutput and buttons for input), and combinations thereof.

Network 110 is any suitable type of wireless or wired data communicationnetwork or other communication network, and can include a combination ofdata communication networks. Examples of network 110 include theInternet, an intranet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network(LAN), a virtual private network (VPN), cellular network connections,and connections made using protocols such as 802.11a, b, g, n, and/orac.

The media delivery system 150 includes one or more computing devices,such as one or more servers. In many examples, the media delivery system150 is a media content provider (e.g., a media streaming service). In anexample the media delivery system 150 transmits media content items tothe user device 102 for playback, such as by streaming, progressivelydownloading, downloading, or other forms of communication of mediacontent items.

In some instances, media delivery system 150 includes multiple serverdevices. The multiple server devices can be owned, managed, and/orcontrolled by the same or separate entities. Various actions performedby one or more servers can include analyzing user communications,performing party-specific actions, accessing and/or transmitting mediacontent, and the like. As an example, a first server is specific to userdevice 102 manufacturer, receives, and processes communications fromuser U. That first server can determine whether certain communicationsrelate to third party software and can transmit those communications toa second server that is specific to the third party software. Mediadelivery system 150 can include a media streaming application thatincludes a playlist application, which is described in more detailbelow.

It should be appreciated that the user device 102 need not be a singlephysical unit or structure but could itself comprise a system of one ormore of interconnected hardware, firmware, and software. Thus, forexample, the user device 102 corresponds to a combination of a smartphone or specialized hand-held device that is connected (through a hardconnection or wireless connection) to an automobile's speakers. In otherexamples, the user device 102 is communicatively linked or linkable tohardware (e.g., an external speaker, a smart television, an audiosystem, etc.) in another user environment such as a home, an office,another vehicle, any location where media playback could be desirable,etc.

In some embodiments, the user device 102 is a computing device, handheldentertainment device, smartphone, tablet, watch, wearable device, or anyother type of device capable of playing media content. In yet otherembodiments, the user device 102 is an in-dash vehicle computer, laptopcomputer, desktop computer, television, gaming console, set-top box,network appliance, BLU-RAY DISC player, DVD player, media player,stereo, or radio.

User device 102 communicates with a network 110 and network 110communicates with media delivery system 150. Media delivery system 150and network 110 are described in more detail at FIG. 2 below. The mediasystem 100 can also communicate with other systems or computing devicesthrough network 110, such as to a social media system described in moredetail below.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of another example of the mediasystem 100 used to generate and play the friends playlist 120 shown inFIG. 1. In FIG. 2, the first user U, the user device 102, the mediadelivery system 150, and the network 110 are shown, as well as a socialmedia system 160.

In the illustrated example, the user device 102 includes a touch screen202, user interface 204, processing device 206, memory device 208,content output device 216, network access device 218, andlocation-determining device 220. The example memory device includes amedia-playback engine 210, having a playlist application 212, and amedia content cache 214.

Also in the illustrated example, the media delivery system 150 includesa media server 260, operating system 266, and physical computerresources 268. The example media server 260 includes a media serverapplication 238, a processing device 222, a memory device 224, and anetwork access device 226. The example media server application 238includes a media streaming service 240 (with streams 232, 234, and 236of media content items 233, 235, and 237), media data store 242 (withmedia content items 244 and media content metadata 246), mediaapplication interface 250, and playlist application 270. The exampleplaylist application 270 includes a user database 272, taste profiledatabase 274, and vector space application 276. The media system 100 caninclude more or fewer components than those illustrated in this example.

User device 102 can issue requests to access media content at a mediaserver 260, for example, to stream music, video, or other forms of mediacontent to user device 102. In response, the media server 260 canpopulate a media content buffer with corresponding items of mediacontent. The media server 260 can also communicate the selected mediacontent to user device 102. Alternatively, in some embodiments, the userdevice 102 plays media content items stored locally on the user device102. Further, in at least some embodiments, the user device 102 playsmedia content items that are stored locally as well as media contentitems provided by other systems.

Although for purposes of illustration, a user device 102 and mediaserver 260 are shown, media delivery system 150 can support simultaneoususe of a plurality of user devices 102. Similarly, user device 102 canaccess media content items 233, 235, 237 provided by a plurality ofmedia servers 260, or switch between different media streams 232, 234,236 provided by one or more media servers 260.

In at least some embodiments, the user device 102 includes a touchscreen 202, a processing device 206, a memory device 208, a contentoutput device 216, a network access device 218, and alocation-determining device 220. Other embodiments may includeadditional, different, or fewer components. For example, someembodiments do not include one or more of the location-determiningdevice 220 or the touch screen 202.

The location-determining device 220 is a device that determines thelocation of the user device 102. In some embodiments, thelocation-determining device 220 uses one or more of the followingtechnologies: Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that mayreceive GPS signals from satellites, cellular triangulation technology,network-based location identification technology, wireless networktechnology (e.g., WI-FI) positioning systems technology, andcombinations thereof. In some embodiments the location-determiningdevice 220 can be used to identify related users. For example, a currentlocation of the first user U can be determined, and that currentlocation can then be compared to the locations of other users toidentify a proximal relationship between the first user and other users.For example, the current location can be used to determine that usersare in a same room, building, facility, city, state, region, country, orcontinent.

The touch screen 202 operates to receive an input 296 from a selector(e.g., a finger, stylus, etc.) controlled by the user U. In someembodiments, the touch screen 202 operates as both a display device anda user input device. In some embodiments, the touch screen 202 detectsinputs based on one or both of touches and near-touches. In someembodiments, the touch screen 202 displays a user interface 204 forinteracting with the user device 102. As noted above, some embodimentsdo not include a touch screen 202. Some embodiments include a displaydevice and one or more separate user interface devices. Further, someembodiments do not include a display device.

The user interface is adapted to display media options, for example asan array of media tiles, thumbnails, or other formats, and can determinea user interaction or input. Selecting a particular media option, forexample a particular media tile or thumbnail, can be used as a commandby a user and/or the media device, to the media server, to download,stream or otherwise access a corresponding particular media content itemor stream of media content.

In some embodiments, the processing device 206 comprises one or morecentral processing units (CPU). In other embodiments, the processingdevice 206 additionally or alternatively includes one or more digitalsignal processors, field-programmable gate arrays, or other electroniccircuits.

The memory device 208 operates to store data and instructions. In someembodiments, the memory device 208 stores instructions for amedia-playback engine 210 that includes the playlist application 212. Insome embodiments, the media-playback engine 210 selects and plays backmedia content and generates interfaces for selecting and playing backmedia content items.

In some embodiments the media-playback engine 210 includes a playlistapplication 212. Playlist application 212 interacts with the userthrough the user interface 204 of the user device 102. For example, whenthe user selects the announcement window shown in FIG. 1 of the userinterface 204, a message is sent from the user device 204 to theplaylist application of the media server 260 indicating that the user Uwants it to generate and/or provide the friends playlist 120. Theplaylist application 212 communicates with media server application 238to identify media content items that should be used to create thefriends playlist 120. The playlist application 212 also communicates 292with a social media system 160 as needed, and as described in moredetail below.

The playlist application 270 includes one or more hardware and/orsoftware components operative to provide periodically updatedpersonalized playlist functionality. Playlist management functionalityincludes one or more of selecting users, selecting one or moreindividual songs, removing one or more individual songs, and playingplaylists, among other functionality. In an example, the playlistapplication 270 receives a command from a first user and executes acommand based thereon. Many operations performed by the playlistapplication 270 include interacting with a media server application 238.The playlist application 270 may also be located at the media serverapplication 238, which is described in more detail below.

Playlist application 270 also includes functionality includingcommunicating with a social media system 160 to receive a list offriends of the first user. Playlist application 270 determines whichfriends of the first user in the social media system are also users ofthe media streaming service. Those users and associated user informationcan be stored in the user database 272 of the playlist application 270.In an example, a friend list is imported from the social media system160, and friends that are also users of the media streaming serviceautomatically become followed users of the first user. Another exampleof operations that can be performed in whole or in part by the playlistapplication 270 are illustrated and described with reference to FIG. 3.

Some embodiments of the memory device 208 also include a media contentcache 214. The media content cache 214 stores media content items, suchas media content items that have been previously received from themedia-delivery system 230. The media content items stored in the mediacontent cache 214 may be stored in an encrypted or unencrypted format.The media content cache 214 can also store decryption keys for some orall of the media content items that are stored in an encrypted format.The media content cache 214 can also store metadata about media contentitems such as title, artist name, album name, length, genre, mood, era,etc. The media content cache 214 can also store playback informationabout the media content items, such as the number of times the user hasrequested to playback the media content item or the current location ofplayback (e.g., when the media content item is an audiobook, podcast, orthe like from which a user may wish to resume playback).

The memory device 208 typically includes at least some form ofcomputer-readable media. Computer readable media include any availablemedia that can be accessed by the user device 102. By way of example,computer-readable media include computer readable storage media andcomputer readable communication media.

Computer readable storage media is hardware and includes, for example,volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implementedin any device configured to store information such as computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computerreadable storage media includes, but is not limited to, random accessmemory, read only memory, electrically erasable programmable read onlymemory, flash memory and other memory technology, compact disc read onlymemory, BLU-RAY DISCS, digital versatile discs or other optical storage,magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to storethe desired information and that can be accessed by the user device 102.In some embodiments, computer readable storage media is non-transitorycomputer readable storage media.

Computer readable communication media typically embodies computerreadable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data ina modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term“modulated data signal” refers to a signal that has one or more of itscharacteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode informationin the signal. By way of example, computer readable communication mediaincludes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection,and wireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency, infrared, andother wireless media. Combinations of any of the above are also includedwithin the scope of computer readable media.

The content output device 216 operates to output media content. In someembodiments, the content output device 216 generates media output forthe first user U. Examples of the content output device 216 include aspeaker assembly comprising one or more speakers, an audio output jack,a BLUETOOTH transmitter, a display panel, and a video output jack. Otherembodiments are possible as well. For example, the content output device216 may transmit a signal through the audio output jack or BLUETOOTHtransmitter that can be used to reproduce an audio signal by a connectedor paired device such as headphones, speaker system, or vehicle headunit.

The network access device 218 operates to communicate with othercomputing devices over one or more networks, such as the network 110.Examples of the network access device include one or more wired networkinterfaces and wireless network interfaces. Examples of wireless networkinterfaces include infrared, BLUETOOTH wireless technology,802.11a/b/g/n/ac, and cellular or other radio frequency interfaces.

The network 110 is an electronic communication network that facilitatescommunication between the user device 102 and the media delivery system150. An electronic communication network includes a set of computingdevices and links between the computing devices. The computing devicesin the network use the links to enable communication among the computingdevices in the network. The network 110 can include routers, switches,mobile access points, bridges, hubs, intrusion detection devices,storage devices, standalone server devices, blade server devices,sensors, desktop computers, firewall devices, laptop computers, handheldcomputers, mobile telephones, vehicular computing devices, and othertypes of computing devices.

In various embodiments, the network 110 includes various types of links.For example, the network 110 can include wired and/or wireless links,including BLUETOOTH, ultra-wideband (UWB), 802.11, ZIGBEE, cellular, andother types of wireless links. Furthermore, in various embodiments, thenetwork 110 is implemented at various scales. For example, the network110 can be implemented as one or more vehicle are networks, local areanetworks (LANs), metropolitan area networks, subnets, wide area networks(such as the Internet), or can be implemented at another scale. Further,in some embodiments, the network 110 includes multiple networks, whichmay be of the same type or of multiple different types.

The media delivery system 150 comprises one or more computing devicesand provides media content items to the user device 102 and, in someembodiments, other media-playback devices as well. The media deliverysystem 150 includes a media server 260. Although FIG. 2 shows a singlemedia server 260, some embodiments include multiple media servers. Inthese embodiments, each of the multiple media servers may be identicalor similar and may provide similar functionality (e.g., to providegreater capacity and redundancy, or to provide services from multiplegeographic locations). Alternatively, in these embodiments, some of themultiple media servers may perform specialized functions to providespecialized services (e.g., services to enhance media content playbackduring travel or other activities, etc.). Various combinations thereofare possible as well.

In some embodiments the media server 260 transmits stream media 294 tomedia-playback devices such as the user device 102. In some embodiments,the media server 260 includes a media server application 238, mediaapplication interface 250, playlist application 270, a processing device222, a memory device 224, and a network access device 226. Theprocessing device 222, memory device 224, and network access device 226may be similar to the processing device 206, memory device 208, andnetwork access device 218 respectively, which have each been previouslydescribed.

In some embodiments, the media server application 238 streams music orother audio, video, or other forms of media content. The media serverapplication 238 includes a media streaming service 240, a media datastore 242, a media application interface 250, and a playlist application270. The media streaming service 240 operates to buffer media contentsuch as media content items 233, 235, and 237, for streaming to one ormore streams 232, 234, and 236.

Media server 260 can provide a subscription-based media streamingservice 240, for which user device 102 or user can have an associatedaccount and credentials, and which enable the user device 102 tocommunicate with and receive content from the media server 260. Areceived media-access request from user device 102 can includeinformation such as, for example, a network address, which identifies auser device 102 to which the media server 260 should stream or otherwiseprovide media content items 233, 235, 237, in response to processing themedia-access request.

The media application interface 250 can receive requests or othercommunication from user device 102 or other systems, to retrieve mediacontent items from the media server 260. For example, the mediaapplication interface 250 receives communication 290 from themedia-playback engine 210.

In some embodiments, the media data store 242 stores media content items244, media content metadata 246, and playlists 248. The media data store242 may comprise one or more databases and file systems. As noted above,the media content items 244 may be audio, video, or any other type ofmedia content, which may be stored in any format for storing mediacontent.

Media content items 244 can include media content, for example, music,songs, videos, movies, or other media content, together with metadatadescribing that media content. The metadata can be used to enable usersand user device 102 to search within repositories of media content, tolocate particular media content items.

The media content metadata 246 operates to provide various informationassociated with the media content items 244. In some embodiments, themedia content metadata 246 includes one or more of title, artist name,album name, length, genre, mood, era, etc.

The playlist application 270 can receive requests or other communication290, 292 from user devices 102 or other systems to create and/orretrieve a playlist for playback. In some embodiments, playlistapplication 270 includes a user database 272, taste profile database274, and vector space application 276. Playlist application 270 gathersinformation pertinent to generating a friends playlist 120, and operatesto generate the friends playlist 120. Once the corresponding list ofmedia content items is selected for the friends playlist 120, the mediastreaming service 240 transmits the media content items (e.g. 233, 235,or 237) for playback at the user device 102.

User database 272 can store information related to registered users ofthe media system 100. For example, the user database 272 storesconnection information of users that identifies social connections(e.g., friends, followers, or other social connections). In anotherembodiment, the playlist application 270 communicates with other socialmedia systems to identify and/or recommend social connections, which arethen added to and stored in the user database 272.

In an example, playlist application 270 communicates with a social mediasystem 160 and requests a list of connections associated with the firstuser. The request can be in the form of an API call, for example. Asdiscussed above, the request is only made after receiving expressauthorization from the first user, and the authorization is confirmed byboth the media system 100 and the social media system. The social mediasystem then sends the list of connections, which is received by andimported into the media system 100, and stored in the user database 272.In some embodiments those connections can subsequently be used by theplaylist application 270 to be presented as suggestions to the firstuser of other users of the media streaming service who the first usermay want to further interact with or make another connection with. Or,in another embodiment the media system 100 can automatically follow orotherwise establish a connection with all of the connections from thelist of connections in the media system 100.

In some embodiments an additional matching process is performed afterreceipt of the list of connections in order to determine whether theusers included in the list of connections are also users of the mediasystem 100. This can be done, for example, by looking for matchesbetween the user names, or other user information that may be availablesuch as birthdates, user ID numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses,telephone numbers, and the like. The transmission of any such personallyidentifying information between the social media system 160 and themedia system 100 is only provided with approval of the first user and asexpressly permitted by the first user's connections as defined byprivacy settings selected by them.

Taste profile database 274 stores taste profile information for thefirst user and other users of the media system 100. User taste profilesare typically determined based at least in part on the user listeninghistory (e.g., what songs the user has listened to in the past, orwithin a certain time period). The listening history of the user maytake into consideration the songs, artists, genres, and other similarattributes of the media content items that the user consumes. In someembodiments the user taste profile is defined as a vector in amulti-dimensional vector space, such as generated by the vector spaceapplication.

One of the drawbacks of relying on listening history to generate a tasteprofile is that it may not be possible to generate a taste profile of anew user of the media system 100 until the user has consumed sufficientcontent to begin to determine that user's taste profile. This mayrequire hours, or days of user activity before the taste profile can begenerated. Therefore, one alternative for users that do not have asufficient quantity of listening history is to conduct an onboardingprocess in which the user provides input to the media system 100 toallow the media system 100 to generate an initial taste profile. Thiscan be done even before the user has consumed any media content in themedia system 100, or anytime thereafter. The input provided can be usedto generate a taste profile, or to improve an already existing tasteprofile. In one example, the onboarding process presents to the user anonboarding questionnaire.

An onboarding questionnaire presents a series of questions to the user,and the answers allow the media system 100 to generate an initial tasteprofile for the user. The questions can ask the user, for example, toidentify which artists, genres, albums, etc. are the user's favorite.Other questions may include information about the user, such as age,location, etc., which help to determine what type of content the user ismore than likely to enjoy.

The vector space application 276 receives user taste profile informationand media content item information, and uses this information togenerate vectors within a multi-dimensional vector space that representcharacteristics of users tastes or media content items. In this way, auser taste profile of the first user can be generated based either onlistening history or the onboarding questionnaire, or other factors, andsimilarly taste profile vectors can also be generated for any otheruser, such as each of the first user's social connections. The vectorspace application 276 is also operable to compute similarity scoresbetween users within the vector space, such as by using a cosinesimilarity or cosine distance calculation

Each of the user device 102 and the media delivery system 150 caninclude additional physical computer or hardware resources. In at leastsome embodiments, the user device 102 communicates with the mediadelivery system 150 via the network 110.

Although in FIG. 2 only a single user device 102 and media deliverysystem 150 are shown, in accordance with some embodiments, themedia-delivery system 230 can support the simultaneous use of multiplemedia-playback devices, and the media-playback device can simultaneouslyaccess media content from multiple media-delivery systems. Additionally,although FIG. 2 illustrates a streaming media based system for mediaplayback, other embodiments are possible as well. For example, in someembodiments, the user device 102 includes a media data store 242 and theuser device 102 is configured to select and playback media content itemswithout accessing the media-delivery system 230. Further, in someembodiments, the user device 102 operates to store previously streamedmedia content items in a local media data store (e.g., the media contentcache 214).

In at least some embodiments, the media delivery system 150 can be usedto stream, progressively download, download, or otherwise communicatemusic, other audio, video, or other forms of media content items to theuser device 102 for playback during travel on the user device 102. Inaccordance with an embodiment, a user U can direct input 296 to the userinterface 204 to issue requests, for example, to create a friendsplaylist for playback on the user device 102.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example method 300 of generating a friendsplaylist comprising media content items selected based on listeninghistory of social connections. In this example, the method 300 includesoperations 302, 304, 306, 308, 310, 312, and 314. Other embodiments canhave more or fewer operations.

At operation 302, the media system 100 receives an input from the firstuser selecting to generate and/or play a friends playlist.

At operation 304, a first user taste profile is determined, such as fromthe taste profile database 274, shown in FIG. 3. The first user tasteprofile may be determined in a variety of ways. In one embodiment, thefirst user taste profile is determined based on the first user'slistening history. In another embodiment, the first user taste profileis determined by receiving a selection of artists, genres, albums,songs, etc., that the user has selected as categories that the userenjoys, such as through an onboarding process and questionnaire.Combinations of these or other processes can also be used.

In some embodiments, the user taste profile represents characteristicsof the user's listening history (e.g., characteristics of the songs theuser has listened to), such as user preferences and historicalinformation about the user's consumption of media content, and caninclude a wide range of information such as artist plays, song plays,skips, dates of listen by the user, songs per day, playlists, playcounts, start/stop/skip data for portions of a song or album, contentsof collections, user rankings, preferences, or other mentions receivedvia the user device 102, or other media plays, such as websites visited,book titles, movies watched, playing activity during a movie or otherpresentations, ratings, or terms corresponding to the media, such as“comedy”, “relaxing”, etc.

In addition, the user taste profile can include other information. Forexample, the user taste profile can include libraries and/or playlistsof media content items associated with the first user.

A user taste profile can be associated with a user and used to maintainan in-depth understanding of the music activity and preference of thatuser, enabling personalized recommendations, taste profiling, and a widerange of social music applications. Libraries and wrappers can beaccessed to create user taste profiles from a media library of the user,social website activity and other specialized databases to furtheridentify music preferences.

At operation 306, a plurality of social connections are identified.

In some embodiments the social connections include users in which thefirst user has a personal relationship with, such as friends,colleagues, classmates, or other personal associations. In otherembodiments, the connections can be based on other relationships, suchas between two people that have not personally met, but at least thefirst user knows of the other user (such as in the case of a celebrity,artist, critic, or the like). In either case the users can be referredto as related users.

One way to identify social connections or other relationships betweenthe first user and other users is to identify users that are followed bythe first user within the media system 100. Following refers to a typeof subscription in which the first user indicates that he or she wouldlike to get additional content associated with that user, or that thefirst user would like that user to be included within the socialconnections used to generate the friends playlist 120. As described infurther detail herein, in some embodiments followed users are the socialconnections that are used to generate the friends playlist 120. Followedusers can be people or other entities that have an account within themedia system 100, such as producers, record companies, or otherbusinesses or entities. Relationships can be similarly identified byother connections between users, such as users that are liked by thefirst user, users that are saved by a first user, etc.

Another way to identify social connections is to import a list of socialconnections. The social connections can be imported from a social mediasystem 160 as described with reference to FIG. 2, or from another sourcesuch as a contact list.

In some embodiments a certain minimum number of social connections maybe needed to generate the friends playlist 120. If the first user doesnot follow or have connections with any other users on the mediastreaming service or if the first user does not follow enough otherusers, the first user is notified that more users need to be followed.In some embodiments, and as described in more detail at FIG. 4, thefirst user is then prompted to select more users to follow. In anotherpossible embodiment, friends of the first user imported from a socialmedia system are automatically followed within the media system 100,without requiring the user to manually select each user to follow.

At operation 308, a similarity score is determined. A similarity scoreis a representation of how similar the first user taste profile is tothe user taste profile of the followed users. The similarity score isused to predict how well the first user will enjoy the media contentitems consumed by the followed users. Calculating a similarity score maybe done in various ways, such as by determining a difference betweentaste profile vectors when plotted in a vector space using the vectorspace application. For example, a cosine distance or cosine similarityfunction can be used to compute the similarity score.

In a first example, a first user taste profile vector is created. Then,a user taste profile vector is created for each followed user. The usertaste profile vectors are plotted in a vector space. The vectors mayhave any number of components (e.g., 20 dimensions, 40 dimensions, or100 dimensions). The inner product (or dot product) of two vectors isthe product of their lengths times the cosine of the angle between thevectors. The dot product (or cosine value) is calculated between thefirst user taste profile vector and each individual media content itemvector.

In some embodiments, the similarity score is computed as the cosinesimilarity value, so a high similarity score indicates a higherprobability that the first user enjoys the same type of media that thefollowed user enjoys. User taste profile vectors with a high cosinevalue are vectors within the vector space located close to the firstuser taste profile vector. In an embodiment, a list of followed users isgenerated and ranked in order from higher similarity scores (cosinevalues) to lower similarity scores (cosine values). In anotherembodiment, a list of followed users is created based on a randomlyselected group, or based on other factors

At operation 310, a subset of the followed users is selected. In oneembodiment, the subset of followed users is selected based on thesimilarity score. In a first example, only the followed users with asimilarity score above a threshold are selected for the subset. Athreshold score may be a similarity score of 0.5 (a 50% user tasteprofile match), or a similarity score of 0.75 (a 75% user taste profilematch), or a similarity score of 0.8 (an 80% user taste profile match).In another example, the similarity score is directly related to thecosine value, so media content items are given values ranging from −1to 1. Media content items having a score less than, for example, 0.3 areexcluded from the playlist. In another example, media content items witha score less than 0 are excluded. In another example, a specifiedquantity of followed users with the highest similarity scores areselected in the subset. The specified quantity can be in a range fromabout 3 to about 10, for example, such as 5. Other quantities can beselected in other embodiments. In yet another example, a subset offollowed users is randomly selected, regardless of the similarity score.Other factors can also or alternatively be considered to determine thesubset of the followed users.

At operation 312, a plurality of media content items are identified. Theplurality of media content items are selected from the media contentitems consumed by the users of the subset of followed users. In anembodiment, a limited number of media content items are selected. Thenumber of media content items may be limited in total, may be limited inthe number of items selected from each followed user, or both. Thenumber of media content items may be limited at, for example, 100 mediacontents items or 10 media content items per followed user within thesubset.

The plurality of media content items can be selected based on variousfactors. One factor can be the number of times that a user of the subsetof users has consumed the media content items, where greater quantitiesare ranked higher than lesser quantities. Another factor can be a ratinggiven to the media content item by the user of the subset of users,where a higher rating is ranked higher than lower ratings. Anotherfactor can be whether the user has recently indicated that he or shelikes or has saved a new media content item to his or library.Alternatively, the identified media content items may be media contentitems that at least one of the users of the subset of users haveconsumed at least once. Each of the factors can be analyzed over aspecified period of time, such as during the past week or during thepast month, so that only recent activity is considered, or a user'sentire listening history can be evaluated.

In an example, all the media content items that a followed user listensto are compiled into a list. This process is repeated for each relateduser in the subset until a complete list of candidate media contentitems is created. In an example embodiment, media content items thathave appeared on a previously generated friends playlist 120 are removedfrom (or otherwise not included in) the list of candidate media contentitems, so that new media content items are presented each time thefriends playlist 120 is generated. In some embodiments the list ofcandidate media content items includes 250, 500, 750, or more than 1000media content items. In some embodiments, if the initial list is toolarge, the list can be reduced to the desired number, such as byrandomly selecting the desired number, applying a time period limitation(e.g., limiting to the most recently consumed media content items) or byother ranking or filtering steps.

At operation 314, the friends playlist 120 of media content items isgenerated. The playlist is configured to update periodically. Forexample, the playlist may update every week, month, or multiple months,as discussed above. Each time the playlist updates, the system includesa set of new media content items, e.g., media content items that havenot been on a previous playlist. In some embodiments a time limitationis imposed on repeating content, such that the playlist may not repeatmedia content items within six months, one year, or ever, for example

In one example, the playlist is generated by selecting a plurality ofunique media content items, such as in a range from 15 to 40 mediacontent items, from the list of candidate media content items. Otherembodiments can have other quantities of media content items.

In some embodiments one or more additional rules can be applied to themedia content items included in the playlist, and to the arrangement ofthe media content items within the playlist. In an example embodiment,the playlist is configured to include no more than, a certain quantity(for example, three) of media content items from the same artist. Themedia content items from the same artist may be configured to not bearranged sequentially in the playlist. For example, the media contentitems by the same artist may be arranged with at least a certainquantity (e.g., eight) other media content items in between. Other rulescan be applied to adjust the order or selection of the media contentitems.

In some embodiments a new friends playlist 120 of different mediacontent items is generated periodically. For example, a new playlist maybe generated every week, month, or other time period. In anotherexample, a new playlist may be created any time that the first userrequests to have a new playlist created, such as by selecting an optionto generate a new friends playlist 120 from the user interface.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating an example method 306 of identifyingsocial connections to be used in generating a friends playlist, which isalso an example of the operation 306 shown in FIG. 3. In the illustratedexample, the method 306 includes operations 404, 406, 408, 410, and 412.

The method 306 can be performed after the first user elects to generateor play a friends playlist 120 (operation 302, FIG. 3), for example. Inan example, the first user navigates to a particular page on a userinterface of the media system 100 (FIG. 1) and selects to play a friendsplaylist 120. In another example, the method 304 can be performed inadvance of interaction with the first user.

At operation 404, a determination is made as to whether or not the firstuser has a sufficient number of social connections, such as bydetermining whether the first user follows sufficient number of otherusers. In one example a sufficient number is greater than or equal to athreshold number of users. In an embodiment, a threshold number of userscan be in a range from 3 to 20, such as at least five, ten, or twentyusers. A threshold number of users represents a minimum number of usersneeded to generate the friends playlist 120. Although it would bepossible to generate the friends playlist 120 based on only a singlesocial connection, it is preferred that multiple social connections beavailable.

If the user follows at least the threshold number of users, then atoperation 406, a sufficient number of followed users is identified.

If the user does not follow at least the threshold number of users, thenat operation 408, the media system 100 indicates to the first user thatthe first user must follow more users in order to generate and/or playthe friends playlist 120. The first user may be presented with differentoptions to allow the first user to follow additional users, such as byprompting the first user to select or search for more users to follow orto find additional social connections by importing social connectionsfrom a social media system.

At operation 410, if the first user does not follow enough users, socialconnections from a social media system (e.g., 160, FIG. 2) can beimported into the media system 100 to identify the first user's socialconnections within the media system 100. The importing process caninclude linking the first user's account within the media system 100with a social media account of a social media system. Many social mediasystems can be used, such as Facebook®, Instagram®, Pinterest®,LinkedIn®, and the like. In some embodiments the linking processinvolves having the user login to the social media system, and thenprompting the user to authorize the social media system to send the listof social connections to the media system 100, and simultaneouslyauthorizing the media system 100 to receive such information. Only uponexpress approval of the first user is the information transferred.

Other lists of connections can alternatively be used, such as byutilizing a user's contact list.

As discussed previously, a matching process can then be used to matchthe users of the social media system with the users of the media system100, such as to determine which of the first user's social connectionsare also users of the media system 100 (since it is possible that notall of the social connections have an account in the media system 100).Those that are identified as having an account are added to a list ofsocial connections for the first user.

Because many people have a large number of social connections, it can betime consuming and laborious to require the first user to manuallyidentify each of his or her social connections that the first user wouldlike to follow for purposes of generating the friends playlist.Accordingly, in some embodiments the first user's social contacts areinitially all followed by default. This allows the friends playlist tobe generated and made available to the user much more quickly, withouthaving to wait for the user to do the manual selection process. In fact,in many cases if the user were asked to perform the manual selectionprocess before utilizing the friends playlist 120, many users wouldnever choose to do so, and therefore would never be able to enjoy thefriends playlist 120. Therefore, the automated following process greatlyreduces the time required before the friends playlist 120 can begenerated, and increases the availability of the playlist to users. Insome embodiments the automatic following occurs without any additionalinput from the user once the list of social connections has beenobtained.

Alternatively, at operation 412, the first user is presented with a listof friends imported from the social media system or other users on themedia streaming service to select to follow. The list of friends istaken from an associated social media application that the first userhas linked to the media streaming service. The list of friends may bepresented to the first user in a particular order, or in a random order.In a first embodiment, a particular order lists the related users rankedby the similarity of that user's taste profile to the first user's tasteprofile (such as using the taste profile database 274 and vector spaceapplication 276, described with reference to FIG. 2). In anotherembodiment, the particular order lists friends in alphabetical order.

In some embodiments the operation 412 is available to the user as anoptional process following operation 410. Although many users willprefer an automated process as described above, some users will with tofine tune or manually select the social connections that are followed.Therefore, the operation 412 can be presented to such users to allow theuser to follow or unfollow users from the social connections.

Upon completion of operations 410 and/or 412 the operation 406 isperformed to determine that a sufficient number of users have beenfollowed and to identify those users. If a sufficient number are stillnot available, the process returns to operation 408.

In some embodiments users may have a large number of social connections,and the automated following of such users results in a large number offollowed users, which may be undesired for generating the friendsplaylist 120, and instead a smaller subset of the followed users ispreferred (310, FIG. 3). One way to select the subset of followed usersis to compare and rank the followed users by similarity scores generatedbased on a comparison of the first user taste profile with the followedusers taste profiles, and then to select a subset with the highestsimilarity scores. In some embodiments the taste profiles of followedusers are only used with permission from those users, such as can becontrolled by privacy settings, such as illustrated and described infurther detail with reference to FIG. 8.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface 500 for requesting afriends playlist. The example user interface 500 includes a title 502,which indicates to the user what the playlist includes and generally howit is implemented. The title 502 is selectable to initiate thegeneration of and/or playback of the friends playlist 120. The firstuser may also be presented with options to create the friends playlist,such as using the buttons 504 or 506. In some embodiments, all buttonsare presented to the first user. In other embodiments, not all thebuttons are presented to a first user, for example, if the first userdoes not follow enough related users.

A button 504, allows a first user to create a new friends playlist. Thisassumes that the first user follows enough users to create the playlist.If a first user does not follow enough users, then this button 504 maynot be presented to the first user. In another embodiment, the button504 is presented to the first user even if the first user does notfollow enough users. After selecting button 504, the first user would beprompted to follow more users on a subsequently presented userinterface.

Button 506 allow a first user to elect to automatically find and followusers. In an example, all friends on a social media system of the firstuser, who are users of the media streaming service are followed by thefirst user, as described herein.

FIG. 6 shows an example user interface for selecting users to follow tocreate a friends playlist. A list of social connections 602 is presentedto the first user, the list of social connections shown typicallyincluding only those social connections who also have an account withthe media system 100. Each social connection may include an icon 604,such as a picture of the user and their name 606. In an embodiment, onlya portion of social connections are presented, such as the users withthe most similar user taste profile. In another embodiment, all socialconnections are presented to the first user. The social connections maybe listed in order of user taste profile similarity, alphabetical order,or a random order. Button 608 allows a first user to search for othersocial connections that are not included in the list of socialconnections 602. When the first user is done selecting users to follow,the create mix button 610 is selected. The create mix button 610 is onlyavailable when the first user follows enough other users.

FIG. 7 shows an example user interface 700 for an example friendsplaylist 120. The user interface 700 includes a title bar 702. The title702 identifies the friends playlist that is currently presented, and mayinclude other information, such as a date created, or other identifyinginformation. A list of social connections used to create the playlist isshown at icons 704.

A list of media content items 708 is shown on user interface 700. In anexample, a list of songs 708 a, 708 b, 708 c, 708 d is shown.Additionally, more information may be obtained for each media contentitems by selecting overflow menu 706. In addition, the user interface700 may include an overflow menu 706 that allows a user to save songs,favorite songs, or remove songs Information presented may includemetadata about the media content item itself, as well as which relatedusers provided the item.

FIG. 8 shows an example user interface 800 of settings options 802 forthe media system 100. Settings options 802 includes options such asconnecting your device option 810, private session option 812, listeningactivity option 804, and connect to a social media system option 806.Each option includes a selectable control having a disabled setting 810and an enabled setting 812.

Listening activity option 804 allows a user to share their listeningactivity and what the user has listened to with followers. In order fora user to be included as a followed user and have their media contentitems identified to create the friends playlist, the user needs toenable this privacy setting. If a user does not want to share his or herlistening history, and disables this privacy setting, the media contentitems that the user consumes are not utilized to generate the friendsplaylist. In an example, when a user has disabled the listening activityoption 804 privacy setting, that user is excluded from the subset offollowed users. In another example, when a user has disabled thelistening activity option 804 privacy setting, that user may be includedin the subset of followed users, but media content items are notidentified from that user.

Connect to a social media system option 806 allows a user of the mediastreaming service to link to a social media system. When this privacysetting is enabled, a user enables the media streaming service to importa friends list from a social media system, as described herein. Whenthis privacy setting is disabled, a user does not enable the mediastreaming service to import a friends list from a social media system.If the privacy setting is disabled, a user may not be able to create afriend playlist unless the user follows enough users. If the user needsto follow more users in order to create a friends playlist, the user maybe prompted to enable this privacy setting.

The option 812 allows the user to have a private session. When thisoption is selected, media content consumed by the user is not stored inthe user's listening history. Therefore, any other steps that utilizethe listening history (such as determining a user taste profile, andselecting media content items from the user's listening history) are notinfluenced by and do not include any of the media content items consumedduring the private session.

FIGS. 9-11 illustrate additional details that may be incorporated withthe embodiments of creating a friends playlist as described above. Forexample, methods of identifying media content items and selecting mediacontent items are described in further detail below.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example list 900 of media content items that havebeen identified from the subset of followed users. An activity score iscalculated, which represents the popularity of each of the media contentitems. The activity score is a weighted score from 0-100, whichquantifies the popularity of media content items. Factors used tocalculate the activity score include overall plays, unique tracklisteners, and unique artist listeners.

Each media content item includes an activity score 902. The list 900comprises media content items with a track identifier 902, a number ofoverall plays 904, unique track listeners 906, and an activity score908. The number of overall plays 904 is the number of times the mediacontent item has been played throughout the media streaming service. Theunique track listeners 906 is the number of different users that haveconsumed the media content items. The activity score 908 is acalculation that produces a score from 0-100, which takes into accountfactors such as number of overall plays and unique track listeners.Other factors that may influence the activity score 908 include uniqueartist listeners (not shown). In an example, the top 1000 media contentitems with the highest activity scores 908 are selected to continuethrough the playlist creation process.

FIG. 10 illustrates a vector space 1000 comprising media content itemvectors 1008 with an associated familiarity score threshold indicator1010. The vector space 1000 may be the same vector space used tocalculate the similarity score, in that it includes a first vectorrepresenting a first user taste profile vector 1002. The vector space1000 may also include the same vectors 1008 representing each mediacontent item. Alternatively, a new vector space may be created, which isdescribed below.

The media content item vectors 1008 closest to the first user tasteprofile vector 1002 will be given a high familiarity score. A highfamiliarity score represents media content items that the first user ismost likely to be familiar with. The media content item vectors 1008furthest away from the first user taste profile vector 1002 are given alow familiarity score. A low familiarity score represents media contentitems that the first user is most likely not familiar with. For example,media content items with a low familiarity score may be items that thefirst user has never consumed before, or only consumed a single time ora few times.

Media content items with a familiarity score above a predeterminedthreshold are indicated in the vector space 1000. High familiarity scorevectors 1004 are located near the first user taste profile vector 1002.Low familiarity score vectors 1006 are located further away from thefirst user taste profile vector 1002.

In an example, a playlist contains a mixture of media content items thatincludes both familiar and unfamiliar media content items. In anexample, the playlist may include a ratio of familiar to discovery mediacontent items of from 10:1, or 8:1, or 6:1. Alternatively, the playlistmay include a ratio of discovery to familiar media content items of from10:1, or 8:1, or 6:1. Providing unfamiliar tracks allows the first userto be introduced to new media content items.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example results table 1100 from the vector spaceof FIG. 10. Instead of being arranged in a multi-dimensional vectorspace, the media content items are lists in order of familiarity score1106 and personalization score 1104. The results table 1100 isconfigured to identify one or more media content items (i.e., tracks) bytrack identifiers 1102.

The media content items with a high familiar score are listed first andthen in descending order. Further, the personalization score 1104 islisted. The results table 1100 also indicates whether each media contentitem is a repeat or is one of too many media content items listed by thesame artist. If the media content item is a repeat or one of too manyitems by the same artist, the column 1108 indicates “YES,” which meansthe media content item will not be included in the final playlist.

In an example, the playlist is configured to include anywhere from 15-40unique media content items. The playlist is also configured to includeno more than, for example, three media content items from the sameartist. The media content items from the same artist may be configuredto not be arranged sequentially in the playlist. For example, the mediacontent items by the same artist may be arranged with at least eightother media content items in between. In other embodiments, more or lessthan eight media content items may be in between media content items bythe same artist.

The various embodiments described above are provided by way ofillustration only and should not be construed to limit the claimsattached hereto. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize variousmodifications and changes that may be made without following the exampleembodiments and applications illustrated and described herein, andwithout departing from the full scope of the following claims.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method of generating a queue of media contentitems from one or more social connections for playback to a first userusing a media system, the media system including at least one computingdevice, the method comprising: determining a first user taste profile;receiving a selection of the one or more social connections of the firstuser; determining a social connection taste profile based at least inpart on a listening history of the one or more social connections;identifying a plurality of media content items; and generating the queueof media content items selected from the plurality of media contentitems based on the first user taste profile and the social connectiontaste profile.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the plurality ofmedia content items are selected from media content items consumed by(i) the first user, (ii) one or more of the social connections, or (iii)any combination of (i) and (ii).
 23. The method of claim 21, furthercomprising updating the queue of media content items weekly.
 24. Themethod of claim 21, further comprising updating the queue of mediacontent items by (i) adding a new media content item to the queue, (ii)removing one of the media content items from the queue, or (iii) anycombination of (i) and (ii).
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein addingthe new media content item to the queue includes determining if the newmedia content item has been included in the queue within a timelimitation.
 26. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating anew queue of media content items selected from the plurality of mediacontent items based on the first user taste profile and the socialconnection taste profile periodically.
 27. The method of claim 21,wherein generating the queue of media content items includes arrangingthe media content items based on one or more rules.
 28. The method ofclaim 21, further comprising: receiving a request from the first user,wherein the request includes (i) removing one of the media content itemsfrom the queue, (ii) adding a new media content item from the pluralityof media content items, or (iii) a combination of (i) and (i); andexecuting the request.
 29. A media system comprising at least oneprocessing system and at least one non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing data instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessing system, cause the media system to: determine a first usertaste profile of a first user; receive a selection of one or more socialconnections of the first user; determine a social connection tasteprofile based at least in part on a listening history of the one or moresocial connections; identify a plurality of media content items; andgenerate the queue of media content items selected from the plurality ofmedia content items based on the first user taste profile and the socialconnection taste profile.
 30. The media system of claim 29, wherein theplurality of media content items are selected from media content itemsconsumed by (i) the first user, (ii) one or more of the socialconnections, or (iii) any combination of (i) and (ii).
 31. The mediasystem of claim 29, wherein the data instructions further cause themedia system to update the queue of media content items weekly.
 32. Themedia system of claim 29, wherein the data instructions further causethe media system to update the queue of media content items to (i) add anew media content item to the queue, (ii) remove one of the mediacontent items from the queue, or (iii) any combination of (i) and (ii).33. The media system of claim 32, wherein to add the new media contentitem to the queue includes determining if the new media content item hasbeen included in the queue within a time limitation.
 34. The mediasystem of claim 29, wherein the data instructions further cause themedia system to generate a new queue of media content items selectedfrom the plurality of media content items based on the first user tasteprofile and the social connection taste profile periodically.
 35. Themedia system of claim 29, wherein to generate the queue of media contentitems includes to arrange the media content items based on one or morerules.
 36. The media system of claim 29, wherein the data instructionsfurther cause the media system to: receive a request from the firstuser, wherein the request includes (i) removing one of the media contentitems from the queue, (ii) adding a new media content item from theplurality of media content items, or (iii) a combination of (i) and (i);and execute the request.
 37. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumstoring instructions, which when executed by a processing device of acomputer system, cause the computer system to: determine a first usertaste profile of a first user; receive a selection of one or more socialconnections of the first user; determine a social connection tasteprofile based at least in part on a listening history of the one or moresocial connections; identify a plurality of media content items; andgenerate the queue of media content items selected from the plurality ofmedia content items based on the first user taste profile and the socialconnection taste profile.
 38. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 37, wherein the plurality of media content items areselected from media content items consumed by (i) the first user, (ii)one or more of the social connections, or (iii) any combination of (i)and (ii).
 39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 37,wherein the instructions further cause the computer system to update thequeue of media content items periodically.
 40. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein the instructions furthercause the computer system to update the queue of media content items by(i) adding a new media content item to the queue, (ii) removing one ofthe media content items from the queue, or (iii) any combination of (i)and (ii).